Ministry of Design was created by Colin Seah to Question, Disturb & Redefine the spaces, forms & experiences that surround us and give meaning to our world. An integrated spatial-design practice, MOD’s explorations are created amidst a democratic ‘studio-like’ atmosphere and progress seamlessly between form, site, object and space.

We love to question where the inherent potential in contemporary design lies, and then to disturb the ways they are created or perceived – redefining the world around us in relevant and innovative ways, project by project. This, we declare, is real change, not change for the sake of novelty. Fortified with these aspirations, we begin each distinct project anew by seeking to do 2 things – to draw deeply from the context surrounding each project, but also to dream freely so that we might transcend mere reality and convention. Each MOD project endeavours to be delightfully surprising but yet relevant, distinctly local but still globally appealing.

At MOD, we provide our clients a service that transcends mere design skills or technical prowess. We prefer to start far upstream by employing design thinking that is both strategic and conceptual, avoiding the immediate impulse for groundless downstream solutions. With each project, our aim is to establish a relevant design “north star” - a central notion and idea potent enough to guide us definitively through the entire design process.

This upstream approach translates into a wide variety of possible downstream design solutions and media — be it architecture or product design, graphics or interior design, even the weaving of diverse disciplines into a single project. As a result, our work is holistic as well as bespoke. We call this entire process North Star Design —

NORTH STAR DESIGN

1. BRAND STRATEGY

2. MASTERPLAN

3. ARCHITECTURE

4. LANDSCAPE

5. INTERIOR

6. SIGNAGE

7. INSTALLATION ART

8. ART CURATION

9. PRODUCT

10. GRAPHIC

↓

↓

XXX

MORE THAN
THE SUM OF
OUR PARTS

We would like to believe that when perceived as a whole, MOD is more than just a sum of its many projects. Survey our diverse range of project genres and design disciplines and you may discover for instance, that our interest in a variety of project genres is largely due to an extreme curiosity for things we’ve never designed before. Also, our inter-disciplinary approach stems from a belief that good upstream design thinking is the mother of all Design, whatever the discipline. So the clearer and cleverer our upstream thinking, the more confidently we wield and weave diverse design disciplines into a single project—see for yourself…

We produce our very best designs when our clients are as keen as we are to transcend mere “patronage” to become real “partners”. As partners in crime, we blaze new design trails together and stare convention in the face, suspicious of its cloying familiarity.

Bolstered by the faith that there must be more to be discovered beyond, our partners cover the gamut of fellow design junkies from established multi-national developers to virgin boutique hotel owners. A single passion binds us - to question, disturb and redefine the experiences which surround us.

SelectedList of Clients:

Marriott International

TA Global Berhad

Holborn Holdings Ltd

Loh Lik Peng, Unlisted Collections

UOL Group Limited

Vanke

SOHO China

Ascendas

1919 Global Sdn Bhd

PP Asia Sdn Bhd

CEL Development

Starwood

Hyatt

BBH

Leo Burnett

OCBC Bank

C.K. Tang Ltd

Fost Pte Ltd

BRDB Sdn Bhd

Sunway Integrated Properties Sdn Bhd

↓

↓

XXX

COLIN
SEAH

“I have always believed in the power of experiences to transform—the banal into the poetic, the everyday into the sublime. My work seeks to create such experiences by redefining and distilling the elements of Place, Ritual & Perception to its core—I term this approach Essentialism."

DIRECTOR OF DESIGN

Architecturally trained in the US & licensed in Singapore, Colin Seah honed his sensibilities working for the likes of Rem Koolhaas and Daniel Libeskind. He also spent 4 years at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Architecture researching design pedagogy and serving as design critic.

As MOD’s Founder & Director of Design, Colin has been named Designer of the Year by International Design Awards USA 2010, and is a two-time recipient of Singapore’s highest design accolade, the President’s Design Award. He is also a two-time Grand Prize Winner of the Gold Key Award, the highest international hospitality accolade, named Hong Kong Perspective’s ’40 under 40 architects’ and Marcus Corporation Foundation Prize 2007 ‘emerging architect with potential for greatness’. Recognized as ”Rising Star in Architecture” by Monocle, Colin Seah has been invited by the Singapore Tourism Board to redefine Singapore as a destination for 2020 and beyond.

Colin Seah founded MOD and is the Director of Design. As MOD's original design junkie, Colin is a licensed Architect but really an artist at heart! He spends his time presenting MOD to the world by directing our entire body of design work and also through a regular line up of speaking engagements.

Joy Chan Seah is the Director of Business Development. Formerly working for a consulting firm, Joy now uses her corporate business background to anchor MOD, keeping our chaotic design universe in check with her spreadsheets and PR kits.

David Tan is the Director of Projects. He may be the newest addition to this trio, but David has sown his “design oats” in a number of internationally renowned architectural practices and seen through a variety of complex projects the world over. He now oversees MOD's project development and implementation.

↓

↓

XXX

Part Studio
Part Support
Group

The MOD team is passionate about lyrical Johnny Cash music videos, cups of caffeinated coffee or coke, defying gravity rock climbing, anything Muji, sweating through hot yoga, cruising on winding back roads, partying all night & through the morning, ping pong face-offs, celebrating birthdays with way too much cake, absolutely everything Apple, our families who are close by our sides or far away but in our hearts, calming matcha tea, enigmatic Peter Greenaway movies, taking pseudo family portraits, globetrotting anywhere & everywhere, monochromatic dressing, polka dots, installation art we can only dream of owning, and yes, a life-long addiction to Design...

We are Design Junkies who also happen to be Interior Architects, Visualisers, Architects, Office managers, Interior Designers, Technical Experts, Project Managers, Business Directors, Graphic Designers and whether we come for a season or stay for many moons, WE ARE MOD.